A pivotal piece to reopening the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center is up for discussion.
Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones anticipates the Clallam County Board of Commissioners to deliberate over a $731,705 grant request from the SARC Board of Commissioners on Monday, Jan. 25.
Since locking the doors on Oct. 30, 2015, the center has remained in limbo while SARC officials explore a partnership with the Olympic Peninsula YMCA.
The partnership, however, awaits approval on the $731,705 grant from the county’s Opportunity Fund to the SARC board for a new air handling unit and waste and water system improvements.
If approved, all grant monies would go to the SARC board to replace the air handler and make upgrades to the waste and water system, Frank Pickering, SARC board chairman, explained.
“It’s critical for us moving forward to have this air handler taken care of by SARC,” said Kelly Johnson, YMCA board member at the Opportunity Fund advisory board public hearing Dec. 18.
“I think that a piece of the puzzle is we don’t want to lease a building that has an air handler that’s at the end of its life and that we have a $731,000 bill hanging over our head because we do not have that money and we will not be successful,” Johnson said.
Following the public hearing, the Opportunity Fund Advisory Board unanimously supported the grant request, but the county commissioners are tasked with making the final decision.
Increase in grant
Differing from the pending request, the SARC board’s first grant proposal submitted last April totaled $386,100. The increase is reflective of the age and accuracy of a past estimate to replace the air handler, Pickering said. The original grant proposal was based off of an estimate done more than two years ago.
“Steve Burke with the William Shore Memorial Pool in Port Angeles highly recommended Abacus to us,” Pickering said.
Following Burke’s suggestion, SARC officials have been working with energy services performance contractor and energy engineering firm Abacus Resource Management Company.
Ranging in efficiencies and price, Abacus engineers provided four options of air handling systems, which are required by the Department of Health to safely balance and maintain the air quality, humidity and chemicals within natatoriums.
“We’re looking at the mid-level system,” Pickering said.
The “vast majority” of the grant is earmarked for the air handler, but a portion is intended to make energy and efficiency upgrades to the center’s water and waste system. Improvements include more efficient faucets, nozzles and new shower columns.
For example, Pickering said, the new showers would deliver water set at an exact temperature instead of being operator-controlled hot and cold.
Additionally, as a junior taxing district SARC officials are participating in an energy efficiency program “Energy Savings Performance Contracting” through the Washington State Department of Enterprise Services. The program designed in 1984 is aimed specifically at state agencies, colleges, cities, school districts, port districts, libraries and the like.
Among the benefits of participating in the state program are guaranteed maximum project costs, energy savings and equipment performance, Pickering said. It also puts SARC in a better position to compete for future state grants focused on energy efficiency.
Targeting July
If both the grant request is honored and the SARC and YMCA boards can ink an agreement outlining the elected SARC commissioners as the facility’s landlord and YMCA as its operator, YMCA officials hope to reopen SARC by July.
“We have said July,” Gary Huff, Olympic Peninsula YMCA board member, told those attending a SARC board meeting on Jan. 13. “If it has to go to September, OK, we may have to, but we hope July, but we’re not in total control of that.”
To help guide and move ahead the creation of a lease agreement, the YMCA board is using a similar lease between the Sammamish Family YMCA and City of Sammamish of a 60,000-square-foot facility as an example.
“We have a couple of good examples, but we also have to put in there all the individual and legal issues around this agreement and there’s a lot involved,” Huff said. “I would like it (agreement) by mid-February.”
With slightly more than $2,000 to maintain the facility until an agreement and funding plan is secured, however, SARC commissioners anticipate needing more funds in the “foreseeable future,” Pickering said. One possible source of funds is surplus and/or outdated equipment.
“We have a lot of duplicate equipment that is older,” he said. “It’s key in my mind that we keep the newest and best equipment.”
If any equipment is sold while SARC is in limbo, Pickering assured, it will be a “minimal amount.”
Other aspects of the partnership YMCA officials still are working to finalize include a reliable fundraising plan and partnerships.
Already Huff reports having talked with 46 potential donors and has identified about $60,000 so far in annual giving, he said, and another $50,000-$100,000 in capital gifts.
“What we’ve realized is start-up costs are going to be extra, over and above annual operating costs, and we figure we need at least $100,000 in fixes to the building,” he said.
Hoping to expand and enhance their rehabilitation services, Olympic Medical Center officials are interested in subleasing 1,500 square feet of the SARC facility.
“They are offering $60,000 a year to do that,” Huff said.
Another lingering piece since the suspension of SARC that both YMCA and SARC officials plan to address is $106,000 in paid passes. Exactly how the passes will be reimbursed isn’t finalized yet, but YMCA officials noted they plan to make that right.
SARC commissioner remains skeptical
Despite the steps seemingly toward reopening SARC, SARC Commissioner Jan Richardson has his doubts.
“I am looking out for the taxpayer,” Richardson said.
Approval of the grant proposal first by the Clallam County Economic Development Corporation, then by the Opportunity Fund Advisory Board is “flawed,” because both boards made their decision based on a draft budget that not all SARC board commissioners had seen yet, including himself, he said.
“All numbers should be finalized before making big and expensive decisions,” he said. “Something is wrong there in my opinion.”
Additionally, Richardson is concerned at the overall financial sustainability of reopening SARC.
“Over the past four years I’ve spoken to other national companies about operating SARC and they need 100,000 population to make it work,” he said. “There’s only 70,000 in Clallam County.”
Although Richardson “doesn’t care if the YMCA manages SARC,” he said, he doesn’t want the publicly owned center to go from one financial crisis to another.
“They’re (YMCA) betting the farm on this deal and I’m afraid they could lose it because there just isn’t the population to support what’s going on with unsecured financial donations,” he said. “If they take over and for some reason can’t maintain it, SARC will never be able to open again and that is mine and the public’s concern.”
However, the size of the community SARC serves is acknowledged in YMCA officials’ efforts to ensure financial stability prior to operating the facility. Based on early estimates, about 20 percent of the YMCA’s annual budget will rely on donations and foundations, Huff said.
“We’re spending a lot of time right now to see what can be done and to Jan’s (Richardson) point — this is a small community and that’s why we need so many different partners,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of support though and I think we’ll get there.”
Reach Alana Linderoth at alinderoth@sequimgazette.com.
